PS T-i-^^ 



ANNIVERSARY POEM 



LA UREA. 



LAUREA: 



THE ANNIVERSARY POEM 



r E A D TO 



THE GRADUATING CLASS 



PEMBERTON SQUARE SCHOOL, 






BOSTON, JUNE 19TH, 1867. 



GEO. WM. P ETTES 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CLASS. 



BOSTON: 

PRESS OF SAMUEL CHISM, — FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, 

134 Washington Street. 

1867. 




LAUREA. 




HIS is the hour of Festival — high noon — 
^ Sung by the jays and orioles of June, 
While o'er one half the undivided globe, 
The Queen of Beauty trails her emerald robe. 

Yestreen, the thunder from its rattling car 

Foretold the din of elemental war ; 

The lightning sprang to equalize the power 

Of hostile forces in the battle hour. 

Till, tired at length, it sought a fitting shroud. 

The darkling drapery of a summer cloud, 

And pomp and turmoil were exchanged again 

For the soft patter of the summer rain. 

The storm has passed ; the earth has drank her fill ; 
The flowers are wooing, and the air is still. 

The pale-eyed primrose, from its yellow ring. 
Sees woodbine climb where jealous ivys cling ; 



6 LA UREA. 

The snoAvdrop yields the haughty tulip room ; 
Where trailed the arbutus, the wild roses bloom ; 
Tiie sunbeam seeks the modest violet's door, 
And roams at will the pansy's velvet floor ; 
And Psyche's bird obtains its food and rest 
While safe reclining on the jasmine's breast. 
Tiie hawthorn blossoms, and the dahlia burns 
To greet her lord, who to his love returns ; 
The proud magnolia, on his leaf of snow, 
Graves the sweet thought, the passion-breathing vow ; 
The pure white lily bends with modest mien, 
When thus proclaimed the proud magnolia's queen ; 
Then, like a victor when the prize is won, 
Spreads her broad pennants glistening in the sun. 

This is the hour of Festival ! The grace 

Of Truth and Beauty hallows all the place. 

And calmly counselling stern man to love 

With pride to act, with courtesy to move. 

It treads the hall where Learning dwells enshrined. 

And Wisdom holds the peerage book of mind. 

Beam forth, bright eyes, on these your festal days ; 
Illume this pageant with your envied rays ! 
Not we alone who form the instant throng. 
The praise of woman in our notes prolong : 



LAUREA. 

Where lifts the mountain and where rolls the sea. 
Wherever floats the banner of the free, 
Her voice is honored and her deed approved, 
Her fame is sacred and her name beloved. 

Within the enchanted Parthenon I stand 
To fill the measure of your dread command, 
While brothers banded in a common cause. 
Present the tribute of their kind applause. 
Aetes now the rein awhile will yield ; 
The brave Achilles leave his wondrous shield ; 
Hermes, so swift of wing, has wandered far 
And borne his summons from the field of war ; 
While gay Pandoras, beautiful and good, 
Have joined the circle in right merry mood. 
Their noble prototype contrived, indeed. 
That evils should be from their prison freed ; 
But when discovered the pernicious plan. 
She closed the box, securing Hope to man. 

AVhat hopes are these which glitter as they go ? 
What sweet delusions from their influence flow .'' 
What shining tributes gleam, to memory dear ? 
What cunning fingers have been busy here, 
And brought my moral from the teeming sod, 
Spelled by this living alphabet of God .'* 



8 LA UREA. 

Life is a ripple on the eternal wave ; 
Life is a falsehood, man is error's slave ; 
Life is a bubble, rounded by a span ; 
Life is a vision, and the dreamer, man. 

These, and like ultra theories, engage 
Preacher, reformer, moralist, and sage ; 
Nor can we utter negatives indite 
To creeds that, mainly wrong, are partly right. 

The ripple dances on the sunlit flood ; 
Earth owns no perfect ill, no perfect good ; 
Pure is the bubble that aspires to rise ; 
The dreamer's dream may be of Paradise. 

All earthly music owns its ponderous bass. 
But soothed and chastened by excelling grace ; 
Though the deep octave hath its stern employ. 
The dulcet treble trills its notes of joy. 

Let us probe deep, but wisely. Censors gain 
Less than they lose, provoking needless pain. 
Conscience writes well, and we are false indeed 
Who turn her leaf another book to read. 
Blent with the record of her liberal hour. 
We learn the lesson of satiric power : 



LAUREA. \ 

Full swiftly clcavino^ the aerial tide, 
Its arrows hit the mark we fain would hide. 
Each Mse presentment owns a quivering dart, 
Bathed in the purple baptism of the heart ; 
While truthful motive, in his happy pride. 
Walks grandly on and turns each shaft aside. 

So will we name some actions of our sires. 

With deeds that cluster round our household fires ; 

Weighing opinions in satiric play. 

While the stern moral holds his kingly sway. 

I sing of contrast, and of semblance too ; 
Of what the ancients did, the moderns do ; 
I tell of changes, whose eternal chime, 
Floats on the atmosphere of every clime ; 
But, while so free o'er continents to range. 
Subservient to the laws which cannot change ; 

Of what was written when the world was new ; 
Of what makes part of history to you ; 
Of what the reasonings of recent time 
Say to these listeners in their golden prime. 
2 



10 LAUREA. 

Unlike the sermons that wise mortals preach, 
A Festal Poem must amuse and teach : 
It hath no seventhlys ; for it cannot cling 
To proof of one, but tells of every thing. 
Unlike the lecture, proving past a doubt, 
Mankind are frail, the lecturer left out. 
It owns no chances to explain away 
"VVhate'er the lecturer by chance may say ; 
Nor is its simple consequence, in rhyme 
To note the modes and manners of the time ; 
Love, law, or life, with satire's " ifs " and " buts,' 
A juicy joint illustrated by cuts. 



Long, long ago, there lived, well known to fame. 
An honest man, and Abraham was his name ; 
Ignoring solitude and single life. 
He, as a blessing, Sarai took to wife ; 
And his descendants thought the example good 
And took them wives, that is, those did who could. 
Some held that many blessings cheered their lives, — 
One man alone had seven hundred wives. 

'Tis an old maxim, you will know it such. 
Of a good thing you cannot have too much. 



LAUREA, 11 

Those good old times ! when patriarchs and seers, 
Lived from ten score to twice four hundred years ; 
Loving and joyous, free from care and strife, 
And all the ills which vex our little life ! 

'Tis true there were exceptions. Adam went 
In haste from home, his honeymoon unspent ; 
And Noah, who three hundred years had passed 
Near Eden, kept a caravan at last. 

Jonah was little nearer to our day. 
Which may account for his progressive way ; 
Since he, when reckoning as of little worth 
His first deck ticket, took a cabin berth 
Li a strange vessel, which, his life to save. 
Sailed not upon, but underneath the wave. 
Her vast between-decks gave him ample room 
To enjoy the comforts of a private home. 
But Jonah was progressive, and a wish 
That ventilation be secured to fish 
Which carry passengers, escaped his lips. 
Proving his preference for open ships. 

As, glancing backward to those joyous days. 
Which being passed, the present loves to praise. 
We shrewdly question what pursuits could rule. 
Those worthy gentlemen of the olden school. 



12 LA UREA. 

They had no yachts, no bilHards, no balloons ; 
Held no elections, sang no wigwam tunes ; 
Not having learned of Liberty the worth, 
Carried no banners on the glorious Fourth ; 
They took no papers having all the news 
Formed on the model of a patent fuse. 
Which, for an instant, shows a glittering train, 
Explodes the shell, and all is dark again. 

Their days were long, and certes not a few ; 
They had the time for what they cared to do ; 
Aged four, five, six hundred years or more, — 
Abraham died young — one hundred seventy-four. 

Could Charles Augustus live as long as that. 
He'd take a year for tying his cravat ; 
Eight months in which to fit the dainty glove. 
And sixty days to enunciate, " My love ! " 

What if the years of Eve were given to Kate ! 
You may not wish for her a sadder fate ; 
Poor girl ! who chasing each ephemeral joy, 
In killing time finds principal employ. 

They had no churches, heard no sound of bell ; 
No parson preached his opening and farewell : 



LAUREA. 13 

Loved by the ladies, popular with all, 
No neighboring town extended him a call. 
Ko crushing labors while rebuking sin, 
And arduous duties made him pale and thin, 
That pitying friends, contributing their wealth. 
Sent him to Paris to — repair his health. 

No dim prescription in a foreign tongue 

Was to the waiting pharmaceutist flung ; 

No soft-haired Hahnemann, in due form verbose. 

Advised the invisible, infinitesimal dose ; 

No slim professor flooded trouble off". 

And drowned the patient when he stopped the 

cough ; 
No man botanic, two times out of three, 
For all diseases gave lobelia tea ; 
No man mesmeric taught them sudden springs ; 
No man galvanic fettered them with rings ; 
No ghostly Galen nursed his shivering wits, 
And, good for nothing else, was death on fits. 

Of Ephron, Abraham bought Macpelah's cave ; 

But Zohar's son no deed to Abraham gave ; 

He owned the fields, the valleys great and small ; 

Possession was not then nine tenths, but all. 

The price was fixed, and Abraham paid the dimes, — 

There were no lawyers in those happy times. 



14 LAUREA. 

'Twas not till Jacob, the first lawyer, planned 

To get Ills father's herds and flocks and land, \| 

That Laban, the first client, clearly saw 

The difference between justice and the law. 

We read that one, by Balaam much abused. 
Urged her complaint as if to language used ; 
Nor doubt his wonder when it came to pass 
That he had beat an intellectual ass : 

That Samson's favorite, by a cunning plan. 
Disclosed the strength that clothed the mighty man ; J 

And by her compact with Philistine spies, " 

She took his hair and they put out his eyes : 

That Pharaoh hostile to the flying Jew, 
Caused mounted hosts with vigor to pursue ; 
Who, when the wall-like sea each side was set, 
Drove in, and were — uncomfortably wet. 



But Balaams ride and Samsons fall, to-day, 
And Pharaohs find pretence for cruel sway. ' 
Some Pharaohs' sight is bounded by their noses. 
Who want the world to reckon them as Moses. 

Israel's sweet singer wrote the royal words 
Which Maschil chanted to mellifluous chords. 



4 



LAUREA. 15 

While harp and cymbal rang the measured chmie 
Of lofty period to majestic time. 

Our Christian choir conclude to chase a chant, — 

They try to catch one syllable, but can't ; 

Till on the lower line a note is set 

Which don't get in the semiquaver net. 

On that poor minim they together fall, 

And make it pay the penalty of all. 

Our fathers went to bed ; but we " re/zVe," 
A sort of cold retreat from parlor fire. 
They used to get up early; but we "me" 
In season to seem wealthy, if not wise. 

Unlike our sires who viewed with happy pride 
Their loved Rebeccas walking near their side, 
A nameless distance is maintained between 
Us and our angels, — you know what I mean. 

That portly man so careful of his hat, 
Who thinks St. Matthew wore a white cravat. 
Wants me to tell what everybody knows 
Is best related in the commonest prose. 
He hates the fashions of the present day. 
And always argues 'gainst their regal sway ; 



16 LAUREA. 

He says that brooms once cleared the sidewalks' dirt, 
While modern custom takes a lady's skirt. 

Respected sir, with candor I confess, 
'Tis not my purpose to discourse on dress ;• 
I know the subject's an expansive one. 
And scorning aid, Balmoral stands alone. 

Though you deny the gentlest of our race 
The right to vote and hold a pr{3etor's place, 
A woman's influence cannot be suppressed ; 
Man loves and honors, — I forget the rest. 

She takes our wardrobe in such parts as suits, 

Our collars, wristbands, coatsleeves, vests, and boots. 

Does man not live her mission to fulfil ? 

Does she not always have her own s^vcet will ? 

The fashions change, that is, they sometimes do ; 
Things keep in favor while they're very new : 
The bonnets once, with all their pasteboard power. 
Would catch their owners walking on before. 
Foiled in the chase, of disappointed pride, 
And broken hearts, the race of bonnets died. 



LAUREA. 17 

Those loves of — somethmg, which have formed of 

late 
The tmy focus of enlarged debate, 
Those topmost articles of modern dress. 
Small by degrees, and beautifully less ; 
Mere postage stamps in miniature, of lace. 
Stick like a tiny plaster on the place 
Where Firmness touching, flatters Self Esteem, 
While all unsheltered, Hope and Wonder dream. 

What venturous Gibbon now shall fiercely dare 
To write the history of the human hair ? 
To note its growth, its architecture tall. 
Its restoration, its decline, and fall ? 

Back to the days of Eve, historian, go. 
And note of auburn locks the golden flow ; 
Or tell of raven hair of Jewish girls. 
Of Esther's tresses, and of Vashti's curls ; 
In later time, of how Godiva made 
The city's circlet, in her hair arrayed ; 
Speak of the heads Canova called ideal. 
But dare not question that those braids were real. 
Then leave your books and paper, ink and pen. 
And tread the pavement trod by modern men. 

3 



18 LAI RE A. 

See beauteous Bella, natty, nervous, nice, 
Support lier lovely hair on — rats and mice ; 
While at her Avill it takes the various forms 
Of trees in blossom, or of ships in storms. 
She twists it, burns it, raffs it, puffs it, twirls it ; 
She braids it, piles it, plaits it, crimps it, curls it ; 
She frizzles it, winds it, binds it, rolls it round, 
And adds stray pieces at Le Marchand's found ; 

Nay, not content, obedient to her call, 
Europe supplies the envied waterfall. 
Which, like the trail above the homely darn. 
Rolls its huge billows o'er a skein of yarn. 

" Nothino- to wear ! " Rebecca midit have cried 
When Isaac named her as his blushing bride ; 
Nothing to wear, our ladies have, we know. 
Albeit 'twas said by husbands, years ago. 
The reason for pecuniary distress 
Was, the extravagance of ladies' dress. 

When that old gauntlet falls before the fair, 

Health to the champion who will bravely dare ; 

Though ladies fearful of assault at night 

To show timidity, assert the right. 

Yet they proscribe by most inveterate ban. 

That useless thing, a vacillating man. 



LA UREA. 19 

Have we not noticed — agonizing sight ! — 
When two fair girls at parting say " good-night," 
Instead of leaving the enchanted spot 
That they behave as if they'd rather not ? 
Then recollecting, as it were, one thing, 
Each toward the other makes a tiny spring ; 
On the still air rings out a halcyon kiss ; 
Oh ! we exclaim, what waste of powder's this ! 



I'll not susfo-est — that is, not now, in rhvme — 
What should be done at such a trying time ; 
But only say, to some astonished Toots, 
Who may bear witness, trembling in his boots, 
AVhether he dreads the explosion, or admires, 
On liirn the batteries will not ope their fires. 

And I insist that every charming fair 
Do what she pleases, — what she pleases wear ; 
Though beauty unadorned, — you know the rest, 
I like the practice of adornment best. 

A heavy bracelet on a handsome arm 
Detracts in nowise from that member's charm ; 
A diamond necklace, howsoever bright, 
Steals not from lustrous eyes their envied light. 



20 LAUEEA. 

Am I disputed ? — Let the man arise 
And meet the ordeal of these kindling eyes. 
To fall like Samos, in the gathered rays, 
Charred to a cinder by the lightning blaze ! 

You smile. 'Tis well ; for in the light and shade 
Through which my figures march in masquerade, 
There lurks no danger to the head or heart, 
There needs no prompter if you choose no part. 

To be too busy is with danger fraught, 

A touchino; lesson to Polonious tausjht : 

When the Lord Chamberlain played the cunning rat 

Lord Hamlet did his business up for that. 

We have our little faults ; they're very small ; 
In fact, not worth the mentioning at all ; 
But oh ! the sins of neighbors o'er the way ! 
Well ! we don't wonder there's a judgment day. 



LAUREA. 21 

Awhile hath glecamed the meffectiial fire 
Which sanctions mirth, and lights our blithe 

desire : 
Let wisdom's starlight claim our love again, 
Lost while the rockets shed their glittering rain. 



Ages have flown, and earth's proud millions died, 
Since Isaac sought the field at eventide. 
And fair Rebecca, pure as Luna's beam, 
Dawned on his sight, the angel of his dream. 
And Faith and Love — inseparable powers — 
Have ruled our brightest, cheered our darkest hours. 

Let cynics murmur, and with aspect stern 
Survey the sapphire arch where planets burn ; 
'Twas He who formed the day, and built the sky. 
And spread the sea, and hung great lights on high. 
Peopled the ocean, firmament, and earth. 
Endowed a human soul with heavenly birth, 
Gave plant to beast, and fruit to man, for food. 
Who, seeing all, pronounced that all was good. 
He crowned with light the trees of Eden's bower, 
Crested our forests, paints the prairie flower. 
Parted the sea, and Israel found his goal. 
Spread Huron's mirror, bids Niagara roll. 



'22 LA UREA. 

This is tlie self-same earth by Hector trod ; 
Paul owed allegiance to our fathers' God, 
At whose command, upon the Patriarch's sight, 
In realms of space arose the arch of light, 
Which, still returning as the seasons roll, 
Repeats His covenant from pole to pole ; 
While Heaven's artillery in grand accord, 
Heralds the promise of the Sovereign Lord. 

The Past a volume is of wondrous words : 
Oh, let the Present heed its grand records ! 
Let not the time be proud ; we look in vain 
For mighty works performed by mighty men. 
Boast not of Progress. We who hurry round 
A little circle, nor o'erstep its bound. 
Are not progressive : we return again 
To the low gateway built for common men. 

You point me to the Capitol and show 

The piles of marble in a lengthened row, 

Of which so much could hardly be much worse. 

Where favorites fatten from the public purse. 

I'll lead you to a far-famed city, where. 
Nor spire nor turret greet the upper air ; 
We list the echo of Divine command, 
" No stone upon another stone shall stand." 



LAV RE A. 23 

But its foundations linger ; and you gaze 

In charmed silence, and in blank amaze. 

On blocks so huge that each a quarry seems ; 

So numerous, that the earth with quarries teems ; 

Talk you of Progress ? Are your engines made 

To heave these stones by ancient laborers laid ? 

Who tells of Progress must forget the dome 

That rises proudly o'er imperial Pome. 

What polished pillars may compare with those 

On which the frieze of Balbec's temple rose ? 

Who piles a pyramid to kiss the morn. 

On which Cephrenes may not gaze with scorn ? 

What futile effort for our spire to rise 

To the blue vault where Antwerp's arrow flies ! 

'Tis well to listen to the wise man's song ; 
'Tis well to stand the Judean hills among; 
'Tis well to linger with the lofty thought 
That Homer sang, or sage Quintillian taught ; 
'Tis well high converse with the Past to hold, 
For golden ages teach the Age of Gold. 

So may the time be proud. With reverent care. 
Science, with art, shall noblest trophies share ; 
Invention wear her crown, and Genius stand 
With Jove's own lightnings at her quick command. 



g4 LAUREA. 

So may we tell, that, in these later days, 
A Franklin's wisdom gained our meed of praise ; 
Or how but yesterday the electric wire 
Flashed our remembrance on its wing of fire. 

'Tis well to be descended from a sage. 
But mere descent is not for this our asre. 

o 

Better to know some ancestor a fool. 
If you are graduate of a noble school. 
You cannot thrive upon the father's claim. 
On Fame's bright tablet grave your own fair name. 
Say that your sire was known to honor true ; 
The world admits, but questions. What are you ? 
Court you the stars that gleam on royal vest ? 
The priceless stars are worn within the breast. 

Does fair Lucille, who, skilled in graceful arts. 
Can dance, and sing, and play, the Queen of Hearts, 
Make these her pastime ? In elected hours 
Do studious cares employ her nobler powers ? 
Can she with Goethe muse, with Virgil roam. 
And entertain great Shakspeare at her home ? 
Ai-e these her paintings on which morning's ray 
So fondly quivers as it fain would stay ? 
This her embroidery, and her crayons there ? 
That written scroll, whose letters are so fair ? 
"When closed the shutters and the sofa wheeled. 
Can she with Ajax once more take the field ? 



LAI RE A. 25 

How shall the happy fireside group rejoice 

To hear the silvery music of her voice, 

As now calm Corinne pours her witching song ; 

Now Elia's echoes softly float along ; 

Stern Conrad kisses pale Medora's brow ; 

Rowena crowns victorious Ivanhoe ; 

Our fair-haired Madelaines bless St. Agnes' Eve, 

And the knight's story woos sweet Genevieve ; 

For Lillian's love we sigh an hour away, 

Or catch the spray gem of the Culprit Fay. 

Oh ye, who value pleasure at its worth, 

Disdaining common things of common earth, 

To whom the minstrels sing, as once they sung 

Their truest love-notes when the world was young, — 

To whom the sages of all bygone days 

Repeat their rhetoric in instruction's praise, — 

Speak ! ye who best can tell, the joyousness of time. 

When Truth and Wisdom guide through Learning's 

courts sublime. 

4 



26 LAUREA. 



This is the hour of Festival, whose light 
Is quick prefigured by your robes of white. 
An emblem laurel that befits the brow 
Of wisdom's worshipper, I oflfer now. 
Cast not away my one memorial flower, 
Oh, wear it proudly through the happy hour ! 
And when, in after years, fond memory tells 
How blithely rang this hour's auspicious bells 
To homes of love, which, like the radiant morn. 
Your smile shall brighten and your truth adorn, 
Know that the symbol speaks of glory won 
Ere yet ascended your meridian sun. 
Guard the blest talisman by golden bars, 
Wreathe it with roses, circle it with stars. 



LAUREA. 



Ye arc seven. 
In the sunlight and the shade, 

At mornmg, noon, or even. 
Where revolve the wheels of trade, 
Near the brook, or in the glade. 
There are voices which have said, 

" Ye are seven." 

' One came from a city whose turrets 

Were wrapped in a vestment of flame ; 

But it sprang from its desert of ashes, 
To rival the Phoenix in fame ; 

Its fires lit the stormy Atlantic, 

Whose waves sobbed their dirge on its shore ; 
But it proudly looks forth from its eyrie. 

And the ocean wave laughs, as of yore. 

^ One came from a far distant haven. 

Whose portals guard treasure untold ; 
And the mighty Pacific hath billows 
Which play on its beaches of gold. 

iMiss Mary Suchet Stockbridge, Portland, Me. 
2 Miss Philena S. M. Sawyer, San Francisco, Cal. 



2S LAUREA. 

^ One came from the great northern mountains, 

"Whose peaks are uplifted so high 
That they gaze on the lightnings beneath them, 
As they stand in the clear upper sky. 

^ One came from where prairies are showing 
Their wealth to the lord of the soil ; 
Where inland seas bear, at his bidding, 
The honors and profits of toil ; 

Where always the Father of Waters 
Goes down to the ocean, a guest ; 

His procession triumphant, eternal. 
Dividing the world of the West. 

° Three came from the home of the Pilgrim, 

Who denounced the imperial rod, 
That the blest au' from Liberty's mountains 
Might waft his hosannas to God. 

^Miss Josephine M. Haines, Manchester, N. H. 

*Miss Lina Benneson, Quincy, 111. 

^Miss Sarah F. Bowker, East Boston, 1 
Miss L. Jennie Butler, Danvers, V Mass. 

Miss Louise H. Lovejoy, East Boston, j 



LA UREA. 29 

And these form the band of the seven ; 
. And these wear the laurel to-day : 
Let deservmg diplomas be given, 
Benedicites fall in the way. 

For different paths shall be taken, 

Albeit all lead to one goal ; 
Where all to one light shall awaken, 

Where liveth the life of the soul. 

And on that far future, the story 

Of deeds done on earth may be graven ; 

And the laurel may blossom in glory 

AVith the amaranth, cherished in heaven. 

Percy Lawn, June, 18G7. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




